Couple who made pact to lose weight after wife nearly died drop 15 STONE in just 18 months

A married couple who made a pact to lose weight after one of them nearly died have lost nearly half their body weight.

Simon and Tracy Bartlett, who tipped the scales at nearly 37 stone between them, dropped a combined 15 and a half stone in just 18 months.

The pair made the vow after 42-year-old Tracy, who suffers with Churg-Strauss syndrome, a rare auto-immune disease which causes white blood cells to attack the body, almost lost her fight with the illness, which was made worse by her 18 stone weight.

Scroll down for video

Simon and Tracy Bartlett, from Braintree, Essex, both struggled with their weight since they were teenagers but have lost 15St in just 18 months

Simon, 33, said at one point things got so bad he had to call their son, now 19, as he did not think she was going to make it through the night.

The couple, from Braintree, Essex, have been crowned Slimming World’s Couple of the Year 2012.

Both struggled with their weight since they were teenagers but their size crept up after Tracy was diagnosed with the disease in 2006.

Tracy, who suffers with Churg-Strauss
syndrome, a rare auto-immune disease which causes white blood cells to
attack the body, almost lost her fight with the illness, which was made
worse by her 18 stone weight

After six Christmases were blighted by her illness Tracy said she hit rock bottom.

She said: 'On Christmas Day 2010 I was hooked up to oxygen again and felt completely exhausted.

I told Simon: 'I can’t do this anymore, if I have another year like this I’ll give up.

'I knew my weight was making my condition harder to deal with and I had to do something about it.

The couple have been crowned Slimming World’s Couple of the Year 2012

Support worker Tracy spent years in
and out of hospital, while at home she regularly had to be hooked up to
oxygen and sleep in a chair to prevent her lungs filling with fluid.

Taking
daily steroids to manage the condition increased Tracy’s appetite
leaving her constantly hungry and reaching for the junk food.

She
said: 'I suppose I was comfort eating. It had a knock-on effect on
Simon because he’d be right there beside me comfort eating too.'

Taking
daily steroids to manage the condition increased Tracy’s appetite
leaving her constantly hungry and reaching for the junk food

'A friend had been losing weight with Slimming World so I asked Simon to join with me. We both knew we had to change.'

Cable manufacturer Simon added: 'It was a really stressful time. I was trying to be there for Tracy and keep things going at home for our son.

'We didn’t have time to cook so we’d grab fish and chips or pizza, often on the way home from hospital.

SIMON AND TRACY'S DIET BEFORE

Breakfast: None or high-sugar, low-fibre cereals

Mid-morning snack: Biscuits and a cup of tea

Lunch: Pre-packed sandwich from supermarket, crisps, chocolate or sweets and a fizzy drink

Dinner: Takeaway pizza or microwave convenience meal

Evening: Chocolate, crisps or biscuits

SIMON AND TRACY'S DIET NOW

Breakfast: Full English breakfast with grilled lean bacon, tomatoes and mushrooms, eggs fried in low calorie cooking spray and baked beans or Weetabix with banana

'The worst moment for me was one day when I had to call our son and tell him to come with his granddad to the hospital because we didn’t know if Tracy would make it through the night.'

At their heaviest, Simon weighed 18st and Tracy 18st. On top of Tracy’s illness, they both suffered with high blood pressure and painful joints.

They began avoiding social events and rarely left the house other than for work.

'I used to love going to the cinema but the seats started to get really tight. We stopped doing everything we used to enjoy and I hated the way I looked,' said Tracy.

The pair tried diet shakes and the cabbage soup diet but didn’t lose weight and decided slimming just didn’t work for them until their change of heart at Christmas 2010.

The pair replaced their diet of junk food and takeaways with healthy
home-cooked meals, including grilled steak, oven chips, mushrooms and
peas and big grilled breakfasts

Then on January 5th 2011, Simon and Tracy joined their local Slimming World group.

Simon said: 'As a man, I was very nervous because I thought slimming clubs were a "woman’s World."'

But they were made to feel welcome and the pair replaced their diet of junk food and takeaways with healthy home-cooked meals, including grilled steak, oven chips, mushrooms and peas and big grilled breakfasts.

As the weight came off they also started walking more and were soon enjoying weekends exploring the countryside.

By Christmas 2011, Tracy had lost 8st8lb and Simon was 6st,12lb lighter.

Simon said: 'This year we had a lovely normal Christmas, just the three of us, no oxygen and no hospital trips it was perfect.

'Our lives are so different now, we don’t even recognise the people we used to be.'

Tracy added 'We want to make up for lost time. We’ve booked camping trips for the summer and I’m dying to try weird and wacky things like zorbing and bungee jumping, things I’d never have dreamed of doing before.

'Life is out there and you only get one shot, I just wish I’d found Slimming World and realised that years ago.'

Advertisement

Share or comment on this article:

Couple who made pact to lose weight after wife nearly died drop 15 STONE in just 18 months